BMW X3

Comments

The 20 year old Audi was set to PROTECT itself from lower octane fuel. It retarded the spark to reduce pre ignition detonation. This simple method, although fundamentally preventing "knock" required more gas when it was low octane to achieve the same performance.

Today, the same thing happens, more or less -- the ignition is retarded to prevent compression ignition.

One could imagine that, therefore, there could be a chance that more incompletely burned gas would be forced out the exhaust valve, and out to the exhaust pipe, down to the cat conv. If less completely burned fuel is input to the cat converter, one could argue some premature "damage."

Someone who actually does know the nuances of this will, hopefully reply. At the current price of gas -- mid grade usually costing 10 cents less per gallon than premium -- and knowing the reduced efficiency of mid grade, why would someone actually want to spend more money for less performance.

Unless, of course, the real reason BMW requires premium is to maintain the illusion of superiority. I do not know if BMW would require premium to suggest its engines are really more "upscale" than their actual technology would prove, but I seriously doubt it.

Your 20 year old Audi did optimize itself, sort of, to preven knock -- but you paid a premium in money for not using premium gasoline.

i have two main problems in my X3 2004 car where the dealer in KSA is unable to troubleshoot or pinpoint how, where and all those questions!

the first problem is the creaking noise which comes from all the doors (or windows) when ever i drive over a non smooth road (which in KSA-Jeddah happens to be most of the roads). the dealer is saying this is an X3 problem and there is no solution, but its so annoying and no one can understand this is a BMW. whenever i lower the noise mostly disappears. so anyone passed through this problem and is there any solution?

the second problem which caused the dealer to get me a new gear box thinking the problem resides there but it wasn't from the gearbox. the problem is, whenever I'm accelerating (RPM goes above 4) some hard shifting will occur repeatedly (shifting is not the right word i guess, it feels like if 2 cylinders are moving together and there is a teeth in one of the cylinders broken, so there will be a shift whenever the first cylinder reaches that broken teeth). The only thing i was able to pinpoint is that my tires are mix (18in 255 rear & 18in 235 front) whenever i replace the tires with one size all (18in 235 rear & front) the problem will go away; some technicians said it might be the transfer box. if I'm driving in traffic and slow pace, alot of bubbing sound will come from the rear. again anyone passed through any similar problem.

last problem, my windows used to go down and up by pressing the key once, after i took it for maintenance check, i lost this feature, and the dealer guys are saying i don't have that feature ....so any clue how can i get this feature back.

the first problem is the creaking noise which comes from all the doors (or windows) when ever i drive over a non smooth road

BMW of North America has released a couple of service bulletins on the topic. If your local dealer cannot obtain the bulletin you might try lubricating the door seals and window channels with a rubber compatible product such as Vinylex.

the second problem which caused the dealer to get me a new gear box thinking the problem resides there but it wasn't from the gearbox.

The problem is that BMW's all wheel drive system is designed to work with four identical tires. Mixing tires of different diameters can cause the problem you describe. Run the same size tire on all four wheels.

last problem, my windows used to go down and up by pressing the key once, after i took it for maintenance check, i lost this feature, and the dealer guys are saying i don't have that feature ....so any clue how can i get this feature back.

The one touch feature can be enabled or disabled by the dealer. It sounds like your dealer does not know very much-if anything-about the X3. Is there another dealer in KSA that you could bring the car to?

BMW (and other premium manufacturers) use premium fuel so that when they test (and report) engine performance, they can max out horsepower and torque numbers. That they recommend 91 octane is rather silly, as the typical grades sold at US gas stations are 87/89/93.

"Octane ratings can vary greatly from region to region. For example, the minimum octane rating available in much of the United States is 87 AKI and the highest is 93."

Exceptions for California (state-wide) and some high-altitude gas stations in other states are noted in the entry. The discussion re California also notes that it's possible to buy 100 octane at some stations and that earlier this decade 92 octane was sold.

Can't speak to the Wikipedia entry, which may or may not be correct. All I can do is relate from personal experience that never have I seen 100 octane in CA outside of an FBO at airports. There probably are places you can get 100 octane but I seriously doubt they are your local gas station. Have never seen 92 either, but I suppose it might have been sold somewhere in the state. What you WILL see are 87,89, and 91 octane at CA pumps. :shades:

In Chicago we see a variety of different grades of gas depending on what station you are at. BP, Shell, and Mobil all have 93 Octane Premium, while some stations like Speedway and Thornton's have 92 Octane Premium. Most other stations only have 91 Octane Premium. I also drove to St. Louis this past weekend and stopped at a Thornton's gas station that had 87, 90, and 92.

We're south of Chicago, and just bought an X3 with the sport package and 19-inch wheel upgrade (pick it up next week). The 19-inch wheels come with 3-season performance tires rather than all-season tires.

Our dealer recommended buying a set of tires/rims for winter. Anyone know of appropriate all-season tires that will fit the BMW 19-inch rims? If possible, we'd love to avoid swapping tires/wheels every winter and spring.

If you buy the stock size 17" tires for the X3 (235/55-17?.. something like that), you will probably save enough money over the 19" tires to buy a set of wheels to go along with them.. Plus, I bet 19" winter tires are hard to come by, especially in staggered sizes.. It will be much easier to swap a set of tires/wheels, than to change tires on the current wheels.. Either way, you have to tote 4 tires to the dealer, but with dedicated tire/wheel combinations you don't have to mount/remount each time (and at additional cost).

Also.. I wouldn't exactly call your current 19" tires, "three season".. Well, I guess that depends where you live... but, once it gets below 40F, those summer performance tires will get hard and slick, even if the weather is dry..

I'd look for a used set of factory 17" wheels. Check eBay. Should be $500-$600, at most. Then buy 17" winter tires to go on them.

I've noticed a lot of BMW corporate owned X3s hitting the dealer lots with the 19" wheel/summer tire upgrade.. Those are great, if you are on a 1-year lease... Not so great, once you have to replace those monster tires..

Our dealer recommended buying a set of tires/rims for winter. Anyone know of appropriate all-season tires that will fit the BMW 19-inch rims? If possible, we'd love to avoid swapping tires/wheels every winter and spring.

I second your dealer and kyfdx. It takes me @45 minutes to swap all four corners over to my winter wheels and tires. And 19" tires-even "all seasons" will not handle the nasty stuff as well as 17" winter tires will.

The BMW dealers around here will store a set of tires for you at their dealership full-time.... for an annual rent of around $300. No chump change, but to save the hassle of storing 4 tires in a crowded garage (and risk getting them stolen), and lug 4 dirty tires across town twice a year....

Got our X3 last night! This is our 2nd BMW ... also have a matching 06 330xi in the garage (I know, obnoxious). The X3s19in wheels/tires are indeed monsters ... following behind it last night I couldn't believe how wide they are! The wheels look awesome though. And the sport package seats might even be more comfortable than the ones in the 330 ...

I'm amused by all the touch signaling posts I've seen ... our sales person is fabulous, and has sold BMWs for 20 years, and still didn't know about it. Glad we weren't scared of the owners manual ... the instructions to set up touch signaling are on page 42, which then refers you to page 18. It's part of the vehicle and key memory set-up.

If you enter "jed" you will find a number of old messages, one of which refers to "Jimbob " (to the best of my recollection) having provided info re a fix for the creaking. He had an exact number for the dealer's reference. We took it in and it was fixed under the warranty--which you might not have at this point (ours expired in June).

We are considering buying either a 06 325i or a 05 or 06 X3 from Carmax. I know these are completely different vehicles but we could really go either way. My husband likes the idea of the 325 but sometimes may need a SUV. After reading some post about 06 325 run flat tires, we are wondering if that is not the way to go. We just went through a horrible situation with an 03 Land Rover Freelander and we don't want to jump into another mess. By the way, no one should ever buy a Land Rover. They do not stand by their customers (long story, check out LR Freelander on Edmunds if your interested). We thought BMW would be a fun Car/SUV but just want to stay clear of major issues.

My wife has driven a 2004 X3 2.5 since December 2005. It now has @70,000 miles on the clock and it looks and runs like new. A passenger seat SRS sensor was replaced under warranty, it needed tires at around 50,000 miles and a four wheel brake job at 60,000 miles. It's been a good little truck.

We have an '06 330xi and a BMW certified pre-owned '07 X3 3.0si we just bought a few weeks ago (see previous posts.) Both are great vehicles ... we're probably BMW owners for life.

You didn't say if the X3 was a 2.5 or 3.0. The X3 2.5's, in my opinion, were a little slow. I'd probably avoid a 2.5. If you can afford to step up to an '07 X3, you'd be much better off. The '07's got essentially the same inline-6 introduced in the '06 330. It's a lot peppier than the '04-'06 X3 3.0, and drives rings around the X3 2.5. The '07's also got better gas mileage than the 2.5 or pre-'07 3.0. There were a lot of interior and exterior refinements for 2007 that made the X3's much nicer too.

The run-flat tires on the 3-series are problematic. I have Continental ContiPro SSR all-seasons on my 330. I have no issues with the performance of the tires, and I like the idea of run-flats, but they're expensive to replace. A nail in a tire means a new tire, a trip to the BMW dealer (tire dealers where we live won't touch the run-flats), and a $250 hit to the checking account. If you live in an area where nails are easy to pick up, you can always swap the run-flats for regular tires. If you do that, you'll just want to be sure and have a can of tire sealant and a portable air compressor in the trunk since there isn't room for a spare. When I'm ready to get new tires, I'll probably go that route.

I just leased a 2008 x3 for my wife/daughter and was wondering why the ride on the freeway is SO BAD! It has the 18" wheels but no sport package. This is the worst riding freeway car I have ever driven! Any suggestions? Thanks, Dr65

My wife's '07 X3 has a little over 21K miles on it and the brakes have started to squeal recently. She's bringing it in for service tomorrow. I wonder if she chewed through a set of front pads already :confuse:

I can't wait to see what they give her as a loaner car. Last time it was a 335Xi sedan.

Service guy called today and told us the brakes are OK as far as thickness goes, he just cleaned them. The remote keyless entry doesn't work every so often. The dealer was able to diagnose the problem as a bad remote antenna. Parts are coming in tomorrow and I should be able to pick up the X3 after work.

I'm seriously going to try and find a way to get a 5 series when the lease on our X3 is up (july 2010). Maybe a new 528 with some trunk money because the new 5er is coming out in '11. Maybe a CPO 535. I might have to go for an Xi because that's pretty much all that the dealers around here stock.